Linking Rec/Play to Session percussionist?

IveTechMedia

Using Reaper DAW and Session percussionist. It seems the play/stop/record in Reaper is not linked to playback in Percussionist. So I can't start Percussionist when I hit play/record in Reaper. I have an existing mix and two instances of Percussionist on two different tracks. I want to play the three parts synchronised. Manually pressing play of each of course creates extreme offsets! Am I missing a setting for Reaper play/rec to trigger Percussionist?

Uwe303

Hello,

if you want that to happen you enter a note in octave 0 like C0 and so on, then up to all 5 slots play.

IveTechMedia

Thanks Uwe, could you expand on your answer please? I'm gradually working my way around this software for 24hrs since purchase (read the manual) and trying to get percussion up and running for a song but rec/play start needs to be synced. Looks like you have the answer but a step by step details will help. What do you mean by enter a note in C0? I see C0 and if I click on it in the virtual keyboard I just get a "One shot" I'm sure that's not what you mean? By the way I've noticed selecting "stop" in the DAW stops everything but play and record just starts the DAW not Session Percussionist. Thanks again.

Uwe303

C0 is just a lower key, a C of an lower octave, some daws have a different count, so it maybe another C for you. Just try it out to play a white key left from two black keys of an octave, that's a C. You have on every octave 2 black keys then 3 relatively together, and the white key, left from the left black key, of the two black keys is a C (numbered cause there are several). And there is one C that triggers all sounds together. You just paint in a long note over one or 2 bars, then repeat.

Uwe303

Ohh sorry now I get that you know what a c is, so just try some different C's on different octanes and you will find the right one.

IveTechMedia

I may be wrong but I think you missed the point? There is a master play button on the SP interface that starts all instruments and that's fine as a manual start. There may be a similar button on the keyboard that does the same thing, I've not found it yet. But they are manual starts. I need SP to start playing when I press the DAW (Reaper) play button. So when I hit record the DAW plays back existing tracks and starts SP running and recording percussion. The strange thing is that the DAW "stop" button stops everything including SP but play/rec only starts the DAW not SP.

I've found another issue now that SP is not picking up the DAW BPM. It picked up the BPM initially but when I change it SP does not synchronise.

Also changing from 4/4 to 3/4 is real pain as every bar on every instrument has to be adjusted to 3 beats. Once this is done I'm not convinced any of the preset loops are designed for 3/4.

These are both basic issues and just hope I'm missing something simple otherwise SP is basically unusable for what I need.

Thanks for you help so far, would appreciate any further thoughts you may have.

Uwe303

I absolutely understand you but as far as I know you can't sync that play button, therefore you have the keys to control the loops of each slot or C0 starts all at once that are on C notes above and so on (C#0 starts all C#X above. Then you have of course triggers for every single sound. And you need the keyboard, different octaves to trigger those loops otherwise just with play you would have only one loop, that would be a bit boring in some cases. And yes different time divisions need an different setting in loop length in some cases, I never tried if it's enough to just shorten the trigger note(s).

Uwe303

this C0 to E0 triggers all loops at once on the octaves above, you see that by the colours, if the loops are not playing there are no coloured keys within the instrument gui

IveTechMedia

That's disappointing because it means it's impossible to audition or add a percussion track in sync with existing tracks. They have to be recorded and then manually moved to align with existing recordings, that's so clunky! Hope I'm wrong or it's sorted sometime soon. As others have said the concept of this software is great but implimentation makes workflow a nightmare. I've posted other questions about the software which I fear will get a similar response. These include limited support for 3/4 timing and failed BPM sync updating between DAW and software. Had I known this before purchasing I would probably would have avoided.

Uwe303

What do you mean by not in sync exactly, in my projects the percussion loops are always in sync, maybe I don't understand you somehow. Can you maybe make an example on what you want to do. I also think it's not that hard to paint in a note to trigger those loops, or record it with a midi controller, or just play it with a controller for audition first then record, or use the play button for audition and if you like it you do what I described above depending on what you liked, all patterns together or single instrument patterns.

IveTechMedia

Thanks for the follow-up. Hopefully I am missing something here. So I have a song in my DAW which is running at a certain BPM. Unfortunately SP does not update to that BPM despite having the sync on Ext. It was right when first loaded but I changed the BPM and SP does not recognise that. But anyway I can set it manually in SP so I did that. Having found a sequence I want to try. 16 bars that needs to start at the right point in the song and repeat throughout. Because SP does not respond to the DAW Play or Record commands I have to manually press record and then manually press play on Session Percussionist at exactly the right moment. This real hit and miss and a real pain when auditioning different loops. Strangely enough SP does seem to respond to the DAW "stop" command and pressing that stops both. But the DAW play and SP are manual and independent. Hope this helps the understanding. I can't believe other users live with this limitation so I may be missing something? Assume assigning the trigger to a keyboard or the virtual keyboard just moves the SP manual play process to a keyboard keystroke? Or can that trigger be embedded in the DAW playback somehow for consistent start timing? Thanks

Uwe303

Your last thought is absolutely correct, the note trigger is not only there to select a pattern, and a sound or start all patterns for all sounds with c0, it is there that you have a consistent playback all the time you play your song. I can't reproduce the issue with DAW tempo, this should not happen and your setting with sync to ext. is of course correct - so that's strange, Do you maybe use audio tracks and they don't follow tempo, that's why it's out of sync, for example in cubase I would have to enable musical mode on all audio tracks so all audio gets stretched with tempo changes. Otherwise I have absolutely no idea or possible explanation.

IveTechMedia

Thanks the tempo is a minor irritation. Midi triggering is a major discovery and changes my view of the software. This is especially important for tempo that drifts slightly. I've set up my midi keyboard to trigger the sequences and can play the song while recording midi triggers on the SP midi track at the same time. These can be auditioned without recording if I loop the song to 8 bars I can try auditioning different loops. Once a loop is selected selected I can play the song and record record midi triggers every 8 bars (if the song were fixed tempo this would not be necessary, just one trigger at the beginning of the song). On playback the midi triggers can be fine tuned for timing. So the software will work fine for click track songs and non click track songs (only minor drift). Major drift I will have to record the SP audio and use the DAW stretch capability.

I may have missed it in the manual which I did read but this has been painful because the above description of DAW integration is not highlighted anywhere. Every one is talking about wanting "drag and drop" midi which would be really nice and DAW play/rec/stop integration but limited mention of recording triggers in midi? Hope this feedback helps others!

Uwe303

Ok tempo drifts could be a problem, I haven't tested yet myself. In cubase, for example, I can analyze an audio track for it's tempo and create a tempo track out of it, so every instrument or other audio track should follow, so that's maybe the way to go for you if you have drifting tempo. Normally every modern DAW has a function like that